has The Game taken a backseat to safety?

People may like football as a violent game, but that doesn't mean that we should allow it. As we can see by how popular the "torture" films that have come out in the last few years have been, people like and will pay to see pretty extreme and terrible things. This is the NFL trying to prevent its stars from dying at 45, and I applaud them for it. Since people have become bigger and faster, it's so much easier for them to really really mess themselves up. Especially since players aren't likely to take themselves off the field when hurt, someone has to step in.

Which of these rules is really vital to football?

 

Sorry, I meant which of these rules really takes away anything that is vital to football?

I'm not a fan of the "no lunging at the QB" rule, but that's just an economic rule to protect the investment that teams put in at QB.

 

The rules are just fine. Jeff Fisher had a press conference in which he introduced the new rules... can't hate on the rules because Jeff is all for 'em!

The only idea that I'm not liking is lengthening the regular season to 17 or 18 games... I would enjoy watching more football, but 16 games is where it needs to stay.

 

Instead of the first two regular season games being sloppy, the first four or so will be sloppy. I think preseason is important as stupid as it may seem.

 

These rules wouldn't exist if the players who got hurt where Jacoby Jones and Matt Schaub. The commish loves to protect the Patriots. And why wouldn't he? Without them who else would we make fun of for the biggest choke job in sports history?

 

"Also, defenders who are knocked to the ground no longer can lunge into quarterbacks if the play is still going on. Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard did just that on the hit that ended Tom Brady's season almost before it began, and Pereira placed such plays in the player safety category."

I think that rule is ridiculous.

 

I think talent evaluation should be done by the second game in the preseason. The rest is just everyone fighting to make a roster spot, when inevitably they will end up on the practice squad or CUT.